Friends 3

Yui eyes have a glossy quality to them and dark bags hang under them. She half listens to LocaLoca's lecture while jotting down every other sentence, having gotten used to filtering out the verbal clutter. It takes a few moments for her to react when the lunch bell rings as she recalls the reason for her drowsiness.

The previous night and early morning were spent fretting over what to make and testing different recipes. Her budget didn't allow for too much experimentation, so her testing consisted of small portions and didn't use anything that would be pricey to replace. Still, it took some time for her to settle on a configuration of food for herself and her classmate, Takara Tame.

The delinquent groggily stands and does a small stretch as she reaches inside her desk to pull out a pair of bentos, each carefully bound in cloth. She rubs the sleep from her eyes before marching over to the android's desk and placing one down. Tame's eyes make a line between the lunchbox and Yui before her curiosity gets the best of her.

"You made this for me?"

Yui's eyes look anywhere but at the android as shrugs.

"It's not a big deal. Just don't want you getting the wrong idea."

"Wrong idea about what?"

Confusion manages to make itself known in Tame's metallic features. The incident that spurred her classmate into action hadn't registered as more than a baseline nicety.

Yui's brow twitches in annoyance at the supposed victim of her faux pas having no recollection of it. Maybe it wasn't actually a big deal, but it left a nasty taste in her mouth.

Her eyes focus on Tame as she attempts to make her intentions clear.

"Look, I just don't want you feelin' like..."

Like I'm ungrateful.

"...like we can only hang out when I need help with homework."

It's a subtle change to how she might have phrased things at the beginning of the year. This wasn't a transaction and she hadn't toiled away in her tiny kitchen because of a debt she felt needed to be repaid. Instead, the bitterness on her tongue was the result of realizing how much she hated that attitude and the fact that she would've been fine with simply placing the lunch down and leaving.

With throwing her away.

Tame smiles and shakes her head.

"I'm always happy to help a classmate You didn't have to go through the trouble of making a lunch for me, though."

Yui thinks to protest that it wasn't any trouble, but the effects of the delinquent's obvious state of exhaustion cause her to momentarily forget tondo more than grunt.

"But, I'll eat with you anytime!"

"Good, but you don't have to eat it if you don't wanna."

She better eat the whole damn thing.

Unless she can't.

Shit. She's got a brain, right? So that means she's gotta have a stomach. I think.